This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

How Justin Trudeau can get back on track in 2017: Editorial

Five areas the prime minister and his team should focus on to restore confidence that they are the government they promised to be.

Fri., Dec. 16, 2016

The beginning of 2016 was marked by a rare optimism about the new government in Ottawa. As we approach year’s end, we are seeing the first signs of that optimism’s fragility. Liberal support remains strong, but some recent polls suggest mounting criticism may well be having an impact.

There’s been much to applaud in the Liberal government’s first year: the restoration of the long-form census and unmuzzling of government scientists, major infrastructure investments that will stimulate the economy and make our cities more livable, the modest expansion of the Canada Pension Plan, real movement on climate policy and the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit, which promises to raise tens of thousand of children out of poverty, among other accomplishments.

But in recent months, a series of stumbles has rekindled questions about the government’s seriousness, which is to say both its sincerity and its gravity. Here are five areas Trudeau and his team should focus on to restore confidence that they are the government they promised to be.

Cash-for-access: Every time Justin Trudeau or one of his cabinet ministers hobnobs with the rich and powerful in exchange for a $1,500 contribution to the Liberal Party, the government gives the unseemly impression of preferential access. Yet Trudeau persists in his unwise and incoherent justifications.

The prime minister has said these fundraisers are strictly within the rules, which is no excuse. He has rightly said Ottawa has some of the toughest fundraising guidelines of any jurisdiction in Canada, which is irrelevant. And he has said that when he and his ministers are lobbied at these events, they respond by talking only about the middle class, which is, if not implausible, at least bizarre.

Article Continued Below

Ontario, which just banned such events, gets it. The federal ethics and lobbying commissioners get it. Even Trudeau once seemed to get it. He instructed his ministers in their mandate letters that “there should be no preferential access to government, or appearance of preferential access, accorded to individuals or organizations because they have made financial contributions to politicians and political parties.”

Yet, sadly, his government remains steadfastly on the wrong side of this issue. The prime minister should wise up in the New Year, lest his government’s ethical credibility be forever damaged.

Electoral reform: The government still insists it’s working toward its promise of making last year’s federal election the last under the first-past-the-post system of voting. Yet every action Trudeau and his caucus have taken on the issue suggests otherwise.

The all-party Parliamentary committee on electoral reform spent months working on a report that ultimately issued a sensible recommendation: a referendum that puts FPTP up against at least some form of proportional representation. Yet Maryam Monsef, the minister responsible, issued such a perfunctory, anti-intellectual dismissal of the report that one had to wonder why the committee was struck in the first place. (She later apologized.)

And that’s to say nothing of the ongoing debacle that is the government’s public consultation on the issue. For anyone who has taken the profoundly unserious survey at mydemocracy.ca can attest, the site’s most significant contribution is likely to be the vast body of Twitter parodies it continues to inspire.

If the government has no intention of pursuing electoral reform, it should stop wasting Parliament’s time and eroding voters’ trust and simply say so. Otherwise, in 2017, it should treat the issue with the care and seriousness it deserves.

Indigenous reconciliation: Despite encouraging talk of a “renewed, nation-to-nation relationship” and an even more encouraging $8.4-billion budget commitment to improve the lives of indigenous people over the next five years, the Liberals have too often failed to live up to their word on reconciliation.

The promised investment, for instance, while big, is heavily backloaded. A large portion of the money is to be rolled out in the year after the next election. Meanwhile, crises are being ignored.

For instance, the government has brushed off repeated legal orders by the Human Rights Tribunal to address the child welfare crisis on reserves – a disheartening decision that has taken a terrible toll, contributing to, among other things, a youth suicide epidemic in communities across the country. In October, Parliament unanimously supported a New Democrat motion calling on the government to act. Liberal members, too. Yet, still, no money has been forthcoming.

This failure, along with Ottawa’s unilateral imposition of energy projects and its continued litigation to avoid compensating victims of the so-called Sixties Scoop, has cast doubt on the sincerity of Trudeau’s lofty talk on indigenous justice. In 2017, Ottawa should make perfectly clear that reconciliation is more than just a buzzword.

Security law: The Conservatives were committed to expanding the security state with no apparent regard for civil liberties. Those, like us, who hoped the Trudeau government would correct the balance have been sorely disappointed.

The Liberals, who supported the Tories’ overreaching anti-terror bill, C-51, while in opposition, promised to amend the “most problematic” elements of the legislation once in office and ensure it conforms with the Charter. More than a year later, the law remains untouched, including aspects that represent a clear threat to privacy, as well as freedom of speech and security of the person.

Instead, the Liberals seem keen on introducing yet more intrusive powers. To frame its ongoing public consultation on security issues, the government released a discussion paper that dedicates far more space to the case for protecting the powers granted by C-51 and providing new ones than to the risks such powers pose.

In 2017, Trudeau should do as he promised and rein in a security apparatus whose reach continues to grow unencumbered by crucial new oversight or protections against abuse.

Tax fairness: Finance Minister Bill Morneau says tax fairness is his top priority, though he hasn’t always acted like it. Canada’s sprawling tax code is rife with regressive loopholes that the government has rightly promised to review. But action has been worryingly slow given the huge sums of public money at stake.

Take the tax break on executive stock options. Under industry pressure, Morneau shamefully backtracked on his promise to close the loophole, which costs Ottawa about $1 billion annually, 90 per cent of which goes to the top 1 per cent of earners.

This obscene tax expenditure is just one of more than 60 such measures that collectively drain about $100 billion from federal coffers every year, providing by far the greatest benefit to those who need it least.

The planned comprehensive review of Canada’s tax system is expected to find $3 billion in savings – a plausible, if modest, goal. Fixing our prolix tax code can’t happen overnight. But the government should show Canadians it’s serious about tax fairness by moving quickly to close loopholes and cap benefits that help the very rich while hampering Ottawa’s ability to help the rest of us.

Sincerity and gravity. The challenge for Trudeau in 2017 will be to show Canadians that his government means what it says – and delivers.

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com